Residual Stresses Distribution Posterior to Welding and Cutting Processes

Welding is a joining process that leads to considerable change in the local material and the formation of welding residual stresses (RS). Welding residual stresses can be compressive (beneficial for the fatigue life) or tensile (harmful for the fatigue life). In this chapter, a probabilistic analysis of residual stresses distribution posterior to welding processes is carried out. Several researchers stated that the type of the introduced stresses either compressive or tensile depends on several factors. Some of these factors are listed in this chapter. Welding of mega-structures is carried out in the workshops, then a cutting process takes place to construct the exact size of the structural components. This cutting process has a significant effect on the weld residual stresses re-distribution. A study of the re-distribution of the weld residual stress after cutting was performed. It was found that independent of the weld seam length, the residual stresses re-distributed up to 60 % of the weld seam length.